As Sri Lanka’s long-running civil war drew to a close in 2009, Kaviesha Abeysinghe Perera used to travel on her high school van and worry that there were bombs about to explode. While she may not have had such fears in 2010 when, aged 18, she arrived in Aotearoa, there were other challenges ahead.
The chance for a good education was one of the main reasons why Kaviesha’s parents brought her and younger sisters Raviesha, now 29, and Nethasha, 20, from Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, to make a new home here.
But arriving in Auckland was a huge culture shock, especially seeing so many people from a multitude of different cultures in one sprawling city, having to learn to speak English and acclimatising to winters colder than they’d ever experienced.
“When we started at Kelston Girls’ College – I was in Year 12 – I had to learn to speak English and it was quite challenging at the beginning,” recalls Kaviesha, now 30. “I didn’t understand some of the things that the girls at school were talking about. Everything was different – the environment, the houses and the roads were so much more developed.
“We all came knowing we were moving countries, so we all came with the thought that we had to be able to adapt. Our home in Sri Lanka was built by my dad and was three storeys with a big garden. But we left all that to temporarily stay in a converted garage.”
Kaviesha and her sisters kept alive their Sri Lankan cultural traditions through dance, performing at various community events. Then one day, while delivering her local newspaper to earn extra money, Kaviesha read a front page that was to change her life in ways she never imagined.
Rehearsing for a Mixit performance.
The story explained that a performing arts programme called Mixit had speakers stolen from its West Auckland headquarters, then in Henderson. The initiative, started in 2006, uses arts to inspire young people, especially those like Kaviesha from migrant and refugee communities, and help them feel more at home in New Zealand.
While Kaviesha couldn’t do anything to help recover the equipment, she phoned to ask if she could come to one of its Saturday workshops. Accompanied by Raviesha, she waited outside Kelston Girls for a black van, with tinted windows, driven by a person she’d never met to drive them to Mixit’s base.
Twelve years on, Kaviesha laughs at the memory. Sitting in the lounge of the Panmure home she shares with her husband Lahiru, 34, she is quick to say that she probably shouldn’t have gotten into a stranger’s vehicle.
“I’m glad my parents didn’t come to where we got picked up or else they might not have let us go,” she laughs.
Kaviesha and husband Lahiru met in 2018.
Kaviesha remains part of the Mixit alumni squad, helping out behind the scenes of the innovative programme that has helped hundreds during its 17 years. The initiative has now spread to other areas of New Zealand, including Christchurch, Wellington, Palmerston North and Hamilton.
She also serves on its board and says the skills she learned – confidence, self-expression, communication and teamwork alongside people from many different cultural backgrounds – are assisting her to help a new generation of Kiwi kids.
As a primary school teacher at Panmure District School, Kaviesha uses performing arts to engage her students. “Different kids learn in different ways – some learn by doing it or by moving their bodies. When I think about this, it means I can teach concepts in different ways, like moving around, drawing or using materials. I had a few kids who, if I play a song, they will remember the lyrics, so I ask myself things like, ‘How can I use that in teaching maths?'”
Reaching a new audience through her music.
Without Mixit, Kaviesha doubts she would be a teacher. “I had no idea what I wanted to do, but my parents wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer, so I started down the path to become a doctor. I didn’t enjoy health sciences, so I became a chemist instead, but after three years, I couldn’t see myself going to a laboratory every day because I didn’t feel like I was directly connecting to people or making a change.”
A six-week volunteer programme in Kharagpur, near Kolkata in India, opened her eyes to teaching and Kaviesha says something inside her had changed when she returned to Aotearoa. While her parents
were concerned about future prospects, friends at Mixit wholeheartedly supported Kaviesha’s change of direction.
The teacher is making a real difference in the classroom.
“I was talking the other day about what my life would be like without Mixit and I realised it would be totally different. I certainly wouldn’t know so many people from different cultures or from the New Zealand arts industry, nor would I get to be part of this community with people from all over the world who are connected through creativity and open-mindedness. I wouldn’t be using drama and dance in my classroom. In fact, I might not even be a teacher.”
Mixit runs on Saturdays during school terms at its new base, the Auckland Academy of Dance in New Lynn. See mixit.co.nz for more info.
